Why PR?
Marketing is expensive. It’s never been cheap if it’s done well, but recently, costs have increased which means agencies have had to pass these costs on externally. Companies themselves have had stagnant or lower-than-hoped-for sales, leaving them with the tough decision of deciding what marketing they can afford.
Companies want affordable marketing that can do it all. I would be lying if I told you public relations can do it all. No marketing can. But it is a six-in-one solution.
Sales
SEO
Education
Brand Awareness
Customer Acquisition
Customer Loyalty
Sales
PR isn’t an instantaneous solution for sales. It’s a long-term strategy for customer acquisition, loyalty and long-term sales. A press article often doesn’t instantaneously convert to a sale. Often the customer journey is:
Reading your name in a piece of media we’ve secured and thinking that you sound cool.
Spotting your company in another article and deciding to click through to see your website.
At a later date thinking they want to buy from your category and remembering you.
As you can see it’s not often a simple process to track. But it also means the data we secure on the amount of sales we make for our clients is only the tip of the iceberg.
Trail Outdoor Leisure:
We’re not lying when we say PR pays for itself. Outdoor adventure retailer, Trail Outdoor Leisure partnered with us to grow its sales while improving its SEO. We delivered, big time. We seeded key products to influential journalists leading to feature reviews in key titles. One of these resulted in £15k of sales within the first month of it being live alone.
Core Balance:
When Core Balance’s hula hoop was featured in a round-up of the best hula hoops, it generated 368 sales resulting in £6,657 in revenue through direct clicks to the website in the first month alone. Without knowing the sales of third-party retailers selling the product, plus customers who didn’t purchase straight away, it’s impossible to know how big the real impact of the article would be.
With these figures continuing to grow, PR can pay for itself and then some.
SEO
Search Engine Optimisation is the youngest sibling of the marketing family. In the early noughties, most people would consider SEO a job title. Searches for ‘SEO’ have increased 583% in the past twenty years. In January 2020, searches reached their peak with a 1567% increase in searches compared to January 2004 when Google Search records began.
SEO is the practice of optimising a website to move its position up in search results when someone searches for it or the words associated with it. Digital PR is an effective way to drive up a page’s Domain Authority (the number that indicates how high up a webpage should appear).
Christow:
Christow wanted to improve its SEO and thus sales. We smashed this target by doubling the website’s Domain Authority within a year. Implementing a strategy of tactical reviews by seeding review samples to top-tier titles, we secured coverage in key titles. We also analysed internal data to create topical trend stories to drive discussion around the brand and its products. This resulted in 623 pieces of coverage with 90% including a link to Christow’s website within one year.
Education
Bicycles, speech in film and TV, and laptops. What do these all have in common? They’re things people thought would never catch on. Products that are commonplace to us now were once a big innovation. It took ongoing education to showcase to the masses why these products could have such a positive impact on their lives and were a necessity.
Education needs to be part of your marketing strategy. You need to inform your target audience why they need your product. What makes you different from competitors?
PR perfectly educates by informing your audience with subtle messaging. PR was born from psychology. The father of PR, Edward Bernays, was the nephew of Sigmund Freud himself. Consumers don’t feel as though they are being sold too. Its entertaining and topical subjects completely alter the way it’s perceived. Your audience is continuously being reminded why they should shop with you.
Brand Awareness
People don’t purchase after seeing a product once. It takes multiple times. Brand awareness is a key part of PR. We get your product in front of masses of consumers.
Lay-Z-Spa
When it came to growing Lay-Z-Spa’s brand awareness we took the job seriously. Within three months, we secured the UK’s leading hot tub brand 504 pieces of press coverage reaching 1.7 billion people.
Customer Acquisition
Are you a company if you don’t have customers? Customers are the bread and butter of a company and without them, we’d all be pretty lost.
PR drives new customers. Instant new customers are secured when they click through a link to your website or search your brand after seeing a piece of press coverage. Some customers take longer to acquire. Our subtle and continuous messaging persuades them to shop with your brand. The customers who take longer to convince often come to your website ready to purchase without needing any other convincing. They have been absorbing all of the positive messaging around your brand and want to enjoy the benefits immediately.
At Lem-uhn, customers are a huge part of our business. We work with customers who are aligned with our values and ethos. Working with the positive clients we have is one of our team’s favourite things about Lem-uhn.
Cool Crutches & Sticks
Cool Crutches & Sticks is one cool client. We were thrilled when the brand came to us looking to drive brand awareness and customers while making more people aware of the issues facing disabled people and increasing representation. Founded by Amelia and her mum Clare following an accident meant Amelia lives with a disability. Traditional crutches left her with further injuries leading the pair to found Cool Crutches and Sticks. They have been changing lives for almost 20 years. We gave the brand a voice. Placing the Co-founders and their customers at the heart, we showcased why the brand was vital to many people. We paired this with topical campaigns and reactive pitching to give a voice to the stories affecting the disabled community. Within six months, we reached 1.4 billion people. We skyrocketed traffic to the website with a 520% increase following Amelia’s interview with Daily Star. Amelia has been shouting our praises ever since, recommending us to many companies in her circle.
The Natural Love Company:
In three months, less than one hundred words recommending our client in a round-up of the best sex toys drove 544 customers (533 of which were new) to The Natural Love Company website which converted to 19 transactions and £2,358.89 worth of sales. This number keeps growing. The biggest day for customer acquisition through this article was two months after it went online.
Customer Loyalty
People have busy lives. You may be a great brand but your customers don’t have time to think about how making another purchase from you could make them happier. They’re too busy dealing with their boss's last-minute demands on a project that should have been with the client this morning.
PR reminds your audience that you are still here. At Lem-uhn, we prioritise your positive positioning. Our campaigns showcase to your customers old and new how your product could improve their lives. The feel-good part of PR has been missing since its inception 100 years ago. But when you have a form of marketing that derives from psychology shouldn't you be using it to align your brand with what matters in life? Happiness.
Your PR Fit
PR is not a one-size-fits-all. The right partner for you should understand this too. At Lem-uhn, we have three yellow-themed retainers to suit your needs, budget and growth trajectory.
If you’d like to discuss how PR can fit into your company’s needs, you can book a free PR Strategy Audit with us. We’ll analyse your strategy and suggest how it could be optimised to deliver a better ROI on your investment.